Journalist Elizabeth Ohene has rebuked the African media for their low reportage on the ongoing political crisis in Togo.
"Next door in Togo there has been a major political upheaval ongoing for many weeks now. You wouldn’t know this if you only watched or listened to our television and radio stations or read our newspapers. And they are our next door neighbours," Ms Ohene said at the opening of opening of the Second Biennial Conference of the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) in Accra.
"The African story is, therefore, left largely to be told often by non-Africans and then we complain," she said.
Speaking on the topic "African Studies - Writing The Daily History", Ms Ohene said she had spent most of her life reporting from or about various parts of Africa.Â
"Take any newspaper or any FM station or television station and you are likely to get different versions of what you saw with your own two eyes or heard with your ears the previous day," she said.Â
She continued that throughout the years, when it comes to the reporting of the African continent, there had always been a feeling that it was portrayed unfairly by the animal called 'the Western media'.Â
 "I have always held the view, even during the time that I worked for the BBC, part of that Western media, that it does not really matter what the foreign media says about Africa. It is far, far more important what Africa says about itself."
She urged the African media to front their own stories if they want to make a positive impact on the continent, stressing it's only Africans that will tell of the good things the continent has to offer to the world.Â
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